How Not to Solve a Mystery
by TsoLan
Summary: Shaggy suffers a broken leg, right before a major mystery was lined up. Not wanting to lose the 15K payment, Fred brings in Shaggy's wayward cousin, Rufus Rogers to replace Shaggy for the case. However, Rufus's help turns out to be a bigger hindrance than anyone could ever have imagined. Will his erratic and dangerous behaviour spell the end for Mystery Inc?
1. The Substitute Rogers

**Chapter 1**

"Right...the Blaskov Hotel, upper west side? Yes. Yes. Right...yes of course we'd be interested. How much would you be willing to pay?" Fred asked the Russian on the phone.

"Uh...ve' pay you total of fifteen thousand USA dollars. But only iv' you manage to capture the beast. Ve' haff' to stay opehn'. Is ve' holiday period, Mr Jones. I trust that payment is acceptable.?"

"Certainly, certainly." Fred replied, excited by the immense figure he had just heard. "And don't worry. We'll sort this out for you in no time. Is ten PM tonight a good time for you?"

"I see you then'." the Russian hung up.

Fred leapt up from his desk chair, and whooped for joy. "Ka-ching!" he yelled to himself. He bounded out of the room. "Team...Blaskov Hotel, ten tonight. Fifteen thousand dollars man!"

"No way..." Daphne gasped. She looked up from painting her nails, wide eyed. "How much?"

"Fifteen plus three zero's baby!"

Her eyes narrowed. "Is there a catch? What's the mystery?" She had been solving mysteries long enough to know that large amounts of money often meant dangerous mysteries. Fred too often allowed himself to be distracted by the fee, not regarding the fact that there must be a reason behind such large payouts. "The Awthorn Monkey." Fred said dramatically. "What do you know of it?"

"Nothing."

Fred cleared his throat importantly. "It's an urban myth. According to the villagers of Awthorn, about two hundred years ago, their village was terrorised on a nightly basis by the so called Awthorn Monkey. Nobody ever saw it. But they all heard it. Every night, the monkey sounds would ring through the village. The villagers would sometimes hear it scratching on their doors, as it tried to get inside in the dead of night. Windows were smashed. Gardens ruined. Horses would be found in the morning without any tails. And then one day...something was seen. A man of the village went into the woods hunting and found something. A tomb. An underground tomb. It was open. It looked like something had broken out of it. Looking round, the hunter saw a man with a neck twice the length that should be. And his head was on backwards. He was standing there with his back to the man, but the face was there, on the huge neck leering down at the man. Naturally, the guy fled back to the village to tell the others."

"All right...so what then?" Daphne asked.

"That's it. Records end. The village was found five years later, completely empty. The villagers vanished. We only know this story because a diary was allegedly found in one of the houses. Spooky stuff, isn't it? Odd thing is, an Ancient Egyptian carving matching the description of the Awthorn Monkey exists. As well as the diary written by a Greek madman: "Beware he who looks from behind, who's neck elongates to the point of hideous deformity, for heard he brings trouble. Once seen he brings death." There are other records as well."

"Spooky yes...but as you said, a myth. Not real."

"Indeed. So why, ask yourself, has it been seen again, four times, in the new Russian hotel in town?" Fred smiled to himself. He enjoyed telling spooky stories.

Daphne's chuckled. "Stop trying to be dramatic, Freddy boy. You're too cute to be scary." Fred blushed.

"I think we all know the answer. Someone is dressed up in a good costume. So, we're going to solve it? Sweet. I'll give Velmster a call." Daphne reached for her phone on the coffee table and dialled Velma's number. Velma answered on the third ring. "Hey Daph." she said.

"Hi Velma...listen. Can you Shaggy and Scooby get over here? We've got a pretty cool sounding mystery lined up."

"Oh that's nice. One problem. Burch broke Shaggy's leg."

"What?" shrieked Daphne. "How?"

"We took Scooby and Burch out to play Frisbee. Well, Shaggy decided to race Scooby to the Frisbee. Burch decided to try and hold Shaggy back from beating Scooby, so he took his leg out when he was running. That dog doesn't realise his own strength I don't think." Velma muttered.

"You don't say..."

"Yes well...the upshot of it all is that Shaggy's leg is broken in three places. He isn't going anywhere soon. I'm at hospital with him now."

Daphne shut her eyes and rubbed her head, frustrated. "All right. I'll tell Fred. I'll let you know if we're going ahead or not in a bit. See you."

"Bye."

"Freddy." called Daphne "That friend of Scooby's disabled Shaggy at the park earlier. He can't come." Fred groaned from his bedroom and walked out looking annoyed. "That hotel's huge man. We need at least four people if we have any hope of cracking the case tonight. It's over. I'll call the manager again and cancel."

"Fred!" shouted Daphne. Fred always gave up when he was frustrated. "Isn't there somebody else we can take?"

The phone rang.

Fred slouched over to answer the call. "Mystery Inc, Fred speaking, what the hell do you want?" he snapped.

"Like calm down man." Shaggy said. "You'll rupture a blood vessel or something."

"Oh...sorry Shaggy. How's the leg man?" Fred asked, highly embarrassed.

Shaggy laughed. "Been better. Listen, about tonight. I'm sorry about this dude. Is that what you're angry about?"

"No...kind of...yes...but I don't blame you man. It weren't your fault. It's just the amount of money we're getting offered."

Shaggy considered for a moment. He didn't like to disappoint his friends, and although he knew he wasn't being blamed, he still felt responsible. Then, a brainwave hit him. He couldn't go tonight, that's for certain. However...

"Listen man, call my cousin Rufus. He's out of work and he's got nothing to do man. I'm sure he'll come along." Shaggy told Fred. Fred considered, not liking the idea at all. Rufus was Shaggy's cousin, and like Shaggy fitted right into the Rogers family. He was five years senior to Shaggy, and was the definition of hippy. Long hair, ludicrous hats, coloured sunglasses. Rufus had a criminal record, and was by all accounts a deadbeat. He didn't work, at least not honest work. He drank. He'd been to prison. Fred had met him once or twice, and despite himself had liked the guy. Rufus was a loveable loser. Fred thought he was hilarious. Would he hang out with Rufus? Absolutely. But take him on a job? That was a different matter. Plus, Daphne and Velma hated Rufus. But fifteen grand...how could they refuse that money? Which is probably why, against all his better judgement he said:

"Sure, why not. I'll give him a call, dude. Hope you feel better soon."

"Like, yeah man. Over and out."

"So are we going tonight or not?" Daphne asked.

"Yeah, I think we are. Listen, why don't you collect Velma and head over to the hotel. I need to make a phone call..."

**Note: Yeah, that's chapter one. Two's up soon. Cheers for reading**


	2. Путешествие в Blaskov отеля

**Chapter 2**

Velma and Daphne were sitting in the Mystery Machine outside the Blaskov Hotel. It was a huge, white building with twelve floors and a majestic driveway. It was the sort of building which made even the richest men in town feel small. It had about ten chimneys on it's roof, and a beautifully kept lawn surrounding it. This was a place for the richest of Coolsville. This was the rich side of Coolsville. Daphne seemed quite relaxed, but Velma not so much. She didn't like rich snobs. She was friends with Daphne because she knew Daphne wasn't snobbish about being rich. Her father was an incredibly unpleasant person all around, but the gene hadn't rubbed off on her.  
"Your dad even been here?" Velma asked Daphne.

"Nah." Daphne said "He holidays abroad. I think he's been here for lunch once but that's it. Nice place, huh?"

"Would be if it weren't "haunted". We'll see to that." Velma chuckled. Daphne sighed and checked her phone. Fred had said he'd meet them, but they'd been waiting twenty minutes and there was no sign. "So are we getting another person along for this?" Velma asked. "Is that where Fred is?"

"I don't know. Probably. This is all down to that damn Pit bull Scooby made friends with...what does he contribute to the gang? Most of the time he sits in his basket glaring at everyone. We rescued him from a life of mistreatment. You'd think he'd be grateful. I mean, I know he probably didn't mean to break Shaggy's leg, but come on!"

"Hmm..." Velma replied distractedly, glancing out of her window to check for Fred. "I wonder who Fred called..."

/

"So, you think you know what to do tonight then?" Fred asked Rufus as they drove toward the hotel in Fred's mom's SUV.  
"Oh yeah. I'm feeling it bro. Searching the hotel and catching the bad guys." replied Rufus. He was dressed in a flowery black jacket that was zipped up right to the neck. His curly black hair fell to his shoulders and he had a beard of nearly the same length. He wore a pair of jeans, cowboy boots and red tinted sunglasses. On top of his head sat a yellow bowler hat.

Fred leant back and shouted out to the dog in the back of the SUV. "All right boy?"

"Ryeah!" replied Scooby enthusiastically. Fred smiled, but then turned to address Rufus.

"Now listen..." he began. "We'll be there in a second, and the girls don't know I've brought you yet. Chances are they won't be happy, not after what happened the last time they saw you." Rufus bit his lip as he fought down a laugh.

Fred turned a corner, and in front of him stood the Blaskov Hotel. Spotting the Mystery Machine near the building, Fred drove towards it. "Remember." he said "Just be cool, and do your best to look out for the girls. We'll have this done in no time. Just prove them wrong in their assumptions of you."

"Hey, relax dude! I'm off the alcohol now. I feel fresher than a newborn's backside! Nothing can go wrong tonight. Nobody in a monster suit can deal with the formidable fivesome! You won't regret bringing me."

Fred already did.

A short while later, the SUV pulled up next to the Mystery Machine, outside the Blaskov Hotel. "Finally" yawned Daphne, powdering her nose. Velma looked past Daphne to see who was coming out of the SUV. "Oh-" Velma swore violently as she laid eyes on Rufus. Rufus got out of the car with a huge inane grin on his face. Fred emerged from the other side, looking guilty.

Daphne was staring purposively away from the SUV. "Please don't tell me that's who I think it is..." she pleaded. Fred and Rufus walked over to Daphne's side of the Mystery Machine. Sighing, Daphne turned around to face the new arrivals. "Seriously?" she asked Fred. "He is your solution?"  
"I think he deserves a chance. We need the cash, anyway." Fred said, not fully convinced by what he was saying.

"Hey ladies, I'm straight sober now. Haven't touched the drink for over a year now!" Rufus proudly exclaimed.

"I admire that." Velma said. "But you were sober when you decided to light that bonfire ten yards from the gas station. You were sober when you shot my mother with a tranquilliser gun-"

"I thought she was an intruder!"

"- and let's not even mention the time before that! Do you really expect us to be pleased to see you?"

Fred decided to calm down proceedings. "Ladies, Rufus, this might not be ideal, but Rufus should at least have a shot at this. Now, we're going to go into the hotel, split up and search for clues. Daphne, you and me will cover floor five and above, and Velma and Rufus, you can do floors one to five."

Daphne giggled and scrunched Velma's cheek in mock affection. "Have fun, buddy." she laughed.

"Rhat about me?" Scooby asked.

"Oh yeah...Scoobster, you can cover the hotel gardens please. The Awthorn Monkey was last seen outside. If you see it, be careful."

"Ryeah!"

Daphne and Velma got out of the Mystery Machine, and the team walked towards the entrance of the grand hotel. "This is going to work out!" Fred told himself in his head. But if that was the case, why, as he watched Rufus swagger towards the front doors of the majestic building, was he feeling so nervous?

**Note: Yep, that's chapter two as well. Chapter three up soon.**


	3. Revolvers and a Russian

**Chapter 3**

It took the team five minutes to locate the hotel manager. The reception was huge, and the queues at the reception desk lengthy. The whole place seemed to be made out of marble, silver and gold. That's how it looked anyway. Finally, Fred arrived in front of the receptionist's desk, to face a middle aged woman who stared at him with hostile eyes, waiting for him to speak. Velma and Daphne had gone to the bathroom, and Rufus was loitering around behind Fred. Scooby had already gone outside to the gardens, patrolling the area in search of the Awthorn Monkey.

"So...yeah. I'm with Mystery Inc. Here to see Mr. Blaskov." Fred said awkwardly.

"Go through that door, turn left, turn right, through the fourth door to your left." the receptionist replied, sounding completely flat and unenthusiastic. "And please tell your friend to dispose of his weapon, or we won't allow you to remain on hotel grounds."

"What?" Fred turned around, and sure enough, Rufus was busy cheerfully loading an extremely large 44. revolver which he had taken out of his pocket. He was seemingly unaware of the guests in the reception throwing terrified glances in his direction and scurrying away as quickly as possible. Fred hurried over. "What are you _doing_?" he spat. "You can't have that!"

"Why not dude? You told me to protect the girls...things might go dangerous, man." Rufus replied, as he continued to load the lethal revolver.

"Our job is to capture and unmask bad guys in costumes! Not shoot holes through them! Look, get rid of that, or we'll all be chucked out."

Rufus rolled his eyes, and handed the gun to Fred. Fred turned back to the receptionist. "Will you look after that, just until we're done?" The receptionist reluctantly took the gun.

/

A few minutes later, the four of them were sat in Mr. Blaskov's office. He had given them all refreshments, which consisted simply of lukewarm water from a faulty water tank behind his desk. Fred noticed the Russian giving Rufus extremely disapproving looks. Most likely he was used to rich, well groomed and dressed people. Rufus fitted none of these criteria. The Russian sat down in his chair and spoke.

"Ve' guests are begin to notice, and I run out ov' excuse." he said. "I come to vis' country only two months ago. I haff barley had time to learn language, but already things have gone wrong!" He hid his face in his hands and sighed.

Velma nodded understandingly. "The Awthorn Monkey. What exactly had been going on?"

"Virst' time he vas' seen vas' in...uh...suite. Yes. Rich business man vas' staying here ofernight' in suite. Vell' it vas' about two in morning, he says he heard scratching noises in his bathroom. He vent' to check. Nothing. So, he return to bed. Vat' is when noise begins. Terrible screeches and screams, he says. So he check again. Nothing. He turn round to go back to his bed. Creature is sitting vere'. Vat' is all I could get out ov' him. He vas' in shock. He left vat' very same night. No bill paid."

"Jeepers!" Daphne squealed. "But, with all due respect, Mr. Blaskov...that isn't very much for us to go on. What happened on the other two occasions?"

Rufus suddenly piped up. "Scrap that question, dude. Mr. B, has this joker damaged anyone?"

The Russian glared at Rufus and turned towards the other gang members. "Anywan' here repeat vat' in proper English?" he snorted.

"He asked if anyone's been hurt." Velma replied in gritted teeth.

"Actually no. Scared, yes. Put in fear ov' harm, yes. But not ever harmed. In a vay' that seem strange to me. Surely to really scare, you must hurt somebody? It does seem to me vat' someone in my hotel is dressing up to scare my guests, but he has not ve' stomach to commit serious crime. A coward in other vords'. Vich' is why I call you."

Fred decided that it was probably time to get Rufus away from the already stressed manager, before any serious damage could be done. "All right, sir. Our Great Dane is in the gardens now, looking for any clues. We will now search the floors. Is that all right?

"Yes."

"Good. All right? Guys, we'll meet in the lobby in half an hour to compare clues." With that the four of them stood up and left the room. Mr. Blaskov watched them go, gazing especially at Rufus. "Почему Америке полно таких идиотов?" he said to himself. He then shrugged and went on with his paperwork.

**Note: Hope you enjoyed the new chapter. The next chapters will be longer, and more developed. I might also be a bit scary now and again. But yeah, thanks to everyone who's been reading it. **


	4. Velma's Burden

**Chapter 4**

Velma and Rufus patrolled the corridors of floor one of the hotel, both somewhat bored. The dreary corridors stretched on endlessly. There was nothing to really distinguish one corridor from another. Just cheap beige wallpaper, green patterned carpeting and a slightly stale smell. The whole place definitely looked better on the outside. Most disappointingly, not a supernatural occurrence in sight.

"So, you don't have like any problem with me being here, do you Velmy? I don't drink no more! My sense of judgement is better than ever!" Rufus proudly stated.

Velma shrugged. "Well, Fred's the leader and if he wants to give you another shot, I'm just going to go with that. But you need to show us you can do it."

"I'm gunna do it!"

"Well, you have to do it. How about that? Because you're here now, and we can't afford mistakes."

"I reckon this is our case, V. Me and you are going to be the Batman and Robin of mystery solving. The terrific twosome. Getting our monsters and living the dream."

Velma smiled grudgingly, but didn't reply. She doubted very much that anyone would know how to respond to the statement Rufus had just made. Instead, she said nothing, and the two of them continued down the corridors. Bedroom doors flashed by, either side of them. Many were silent, but the occasional voice could be heard. But nothing remotely resembling supernatural activity. Velma wondered whether Fred and Daphne on the upper levels, or Scooby out in the gardens might have had more success.

"Velma..." Rufus said, breaking the awkward silence which had otherwise fallen between them.

"What?"

"If I was trying to impress a girl...not saying I am, dude, but...what kind of things should I get for her?"

"Well...chocolates or flowers? Just something simple..." Velma replied wearily.  
"Yeah, well I'll be honest, I have been chasing this girl for a while and she's kind of like you. I gotta make myself stand out to her, homie. Are chocolates and flowers enough?" Rufus asked.

Velma shut her eyes and sighed. However, despite herself, she was vaguely amused by the conversation. "Well, I think you draw attention just by going out in public to be honest...but if you don't feel it's enough then go that extra mile! Anyway, can this wait until we're done?"

Rufus shrugged. "This is boring, man. The Alcorn Monkey ain't gunna suddenly appear if we keep wandering around. Let's do some cold calling."

"What? Rufus, we can't go kno-"

But it was too late. Before she could stop him, Rufus marched boldly up to room 056 and hammered his fist on the door. Velma shuddered. Blaskov made it emphatically clear to Fred over the phone that he didn't want the guests being disturbed. Luckily there was no reply.

"Come on!" Velma hissed. "We aren't meant to be disturbing the guests!" but Rufus wasn't listening. He pressed his face against the door and shouted out to whoever was inside.

"If you're in there dude, I'm gunna have to come in. Listen, I can hear you're TV, whoever you are. Let me in, or I will unfortunately have to force my way in. Believe me, I'm good at breaking into places. I'll smash your door in if I need to man."

"No you bloody won't!" screeched Velma, trying to tug Rufus away. "What do you want to go in there for anyway?"

"To investigate, man!"

Suddenly the door was wrenched open, and a short, overweight, red faced man in his forties stormed out to find out who was disturbing him. From the awkward angle of his trousers, as well as his crumpled shirt, Velma guessed that the man had been in the middle of something that they should not have disturbed.

"Who are you? Why are you here at this hour?" the man blustered.

Rufus surveyed the man behind his red sunglasses. "You need to calm down, dude. This isn't cool behaviour." he drawled.

"You threatened to break down my door! Who are you, you hippie freak?"

Rufus suddenly took two steps right towards the man, and loomed over him, invading his personal space in a very threatening way. The man hastily backed away into his room, and despite Velma's protest, Rufus followed him in. "I'll tell you who I am!" he jeered, as he continued to walk towards the man, causing him to back up into a wall. "I'm your new best friend, and because you love me, you're gunna calm down, dude!" the short man was terrified out of his wits, as he backed into a wall, with Rufus edging closer by the second.

"F...fine, just get the hell away from me!"

"Boo!" Rufus exclaimed very suddenly, making a sudden movement with his arms. The short man jumped, and whimpered slightly.

"Rufus!" Velma screamed. She ran into the room, and tried to pull Shaggy's cousin away from the obviously jittery man. "Get your ass out of this gentleman's room, right now!"

Rufus shook his head. "Can't do that, V. I'm here to protect you, and I cant do that out there! This guy is a huge threat!" he poked the short man hard in the chest as he stood cowered against the wall, whimpering. "He could snap and hurt you any moment now."

"He's on the verge of a bloody heart attack, Rufus!" Velma was practically screaming. "Get yourself out of this room, right now. You know all that second chance rubbish? Gone. Already gone, unless you get out of here!"

Rufus chuckled and reluctantly backed out of the room. "You ain't seen the last of Rufus Rogers, boy!" he called out to the shell shocked guest as he left. Velma slammed the door shut behind him, and turned to the guest. "I don't really know what to say to you" she muttered awkwardly to the guest. "I completely apologise for that...I'm ashamed and embarrassed about what just happened..."

By now, the man had reclaimed his nerve and he himself was embarrassed. "I don't know what's going on and I don't care. Just get out of my room." he spat. Velma knew better than to argue.

She made her way out of the room and back into the corridors of the Blaskov Hotel. To her annoyance, Rufus was nowhere to be found. She'd taken her eye off him for about fifteen seconds. And he was gone. Shaking her head, she took her phone out of her pocket and dialled Fred's number.

_"Got a clue?" _Fred asked. The phone reception sounded warped and faulty in the hotel.

"No, man. Listen...so far, Rufus has been useless! Other than randomly attacking a guest, he has contributed nothing. Nothing at all. I'd have made better progress by myself!"

Velma heard Fred sighing in fury down the phone _"Put him on the phone. I want a word with him." _

"I don't even know where he's gone! Look, Fred. This is doomed to failure if he stays. He hasn't even lasted an hour without getting us into trouble!"

There was a high pitched scream.

Velma nearly jumped out of her skin. "Can't talk" she said, hanging up on Fred. All throughout the first floor, doors opened and confused and irate poked their heads out.

"What's that?"

"Who screamed"

"Is someone throwing a party?"

Velma ignored everyone, and hurried towards the source of the scream. She already had a pretty good idea what she might find; Rufus holding an innocent old lady hostage or some such scenario.

But it wasn't to be. She had assumed that a woman had screamed, but wrong again. It had been Rufus. She found him, staring out of the window, into the hotel gardens.

"What?" she said.

"I saw it, M-C Vel D! I saw it!" Rufus was beside himself with glee.

"The Awthorn Monkey? Where?"

"Out of the window! See those bushes over there? He was in there! This big ass hairy thing with a real long neck! It was he, V! The monkey of death! The bringer of decay and doom! The apelike undertaker! Th-"

"All right, all right, I get the point! If we wanted you to be an over melodramatic queen, we'd have asked. Look, height, build, anything? It's all important. What was it doing?"

Rufus grinned broadly. "He had a cutlass!" he announced.

"I whh..w.h...What?"

"A proper sword, homie! It looked lethal! There was blood on it as well! And I could have sworn he was holding a dog's head! Man, this is great! Ain't it great Velma?"

"Not really..." Velma replied, looking extremely concerned. "Scooby's out there...wait..oh please no...a dog's head?" Velma felt a hideous swooping sensation in the pit of her stomach.

"Late April Fools!" Rufus announced proudly, laughing hysterically at his own joke.

Velma turned away. "That's it. I'm done." she spat. "I'm finished. Done. I'm calling Fred. Either you're leaving or I am. That was the sickest joke I've ever heard, and I'm not spending another minute in your company."

"Spoilsport!" Rufus sulked, genuinely surprised at Velma's reaction.

They turned a corner.

And suddenly there it was.

Right at the end of the corridor. A seven foot tall, hairy brute. It's neck was twice the length of a normal man's. But the most grotesque thing of all? It was standing with it's back to Rufus and Velma. But the hideous, grinning face was there, on the small head, leering down at the "terrific twosome." And despite the fact it was smiling, it didn't look happy to see them...not at all happy.

**Note: Sorry for the delay and stuff. I hopes thou made enjoyments of thee chapter.**


	5. Battles and Clues

**Chapter Five**

Although this were going pretty horrendously in the hotel, Scooby Doo was finding his job a lot quieter. He padded around the cool, fairly dark garden merrily, feeling surprisingly relaxed and at ease. It was quite a beautiful night. If he didn't have investigating to do he felt as if he could have flopped down in the flowerbeds and slept. But no. Work.

It was when he was looking longingly at the soft flowerbeds that he noticed something, hidden in the flowers. It was long and thin, a rough brownish colour. A snake? No. He'd have sensed it if it was a threat. He cautiously padded over. It was a rope! Puzzled, he moved the flowers aside with his front legs. About five metres of rope! What on Earth was it doing here, he wondered. Then it hit him. He'd found a clue! Smiling to himself, he reached down to pick it up with his mouth.

_"Good evening."_

Scooby jumped out of his skin, and went to jump into Shaggy's arms as he did instinctively. Then he remembered that Shaggy wasn't with him. For out of nowhere, two large Russian Wolfhounds had appeared, on the other side of the flowerbed. They were identical. Both an ugly shade of light tan and dirty white, both the same size and appearance. Scooby blinked, wondering if he was seeing double. The dog who had "spoken"laughed.

_"Your eyes are fine, friend. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Nikolai. This is my twin brother, Viktor. You may address us as Nik and Vik."_

_"Um...'rello..."_ Scooby muttered, edging away from Nik and Vik. Nik was looking at Scooby with a polite stare, which seeped poison. Vik however was wagging his tail and giggling to himself as he stared at him. _"Excuse my brother. Vik isn't quite as identical to me in terms of mental capacity."_Nik spoke softly, reasonably, without a trace of accent.

_"'Rhat you want?"_ Scooby asked, now very on edge. There was something about the sudden appearance of the dogs which terrified him. Combined with their freakishly similar appearance, and the pale, almost ghostly colour of their fur began to fill Scooby with more fear than he'd felt in a long time. He wanted to turn and run, but his four legs seemed to have locked in place. What was worse was the way that Nik was so polite, so courteous, when all the time he was staring at Scooby with pure hatred in his eyes. The politeness, Scooby was sure, was covering up something hideous underneath. Vik, as he stood there next to his brother drooling and sneering made Scooby's skin crawl. He knew that he was in real trouble here. He needed some extra muscle. He drooped his head down to the hidden microphone in his collar and barked softly, three times. The call for help.

_"It appears you have an interest in the rope. Why would that be?" Nik asked, smiling in the most sinister way possible._

_"Um..."_

_"Well, let me answer that for you Dane. I know who you are. I know who you are with. So hear me now. You will leave this garden. You will go and collect your humans. And then you will leave the premises and not return."_

_"Yeah! Never return!" Vik piped up._

_"Be silent, brother!" Nik snapped. "You are still here, Scooby Doo? Did I not make myself clear? I'd like you to leave. Right now."_

Scooby knew he couldn't take on two Russian Wolfhounds, and he wasn't fool enough to try. He nodded glumly and turned away, to go back to the hotel. Obviously he didn't intend to make everyone leave. Once he was safely inside, the dogs couldn't hurt him. Something sinister was going on in the hotel, something which somehow involved a mythical monster haunting the guests, two extremely creepy dogs and a length of rope...well, it made no sense to Scooby at all. But it might to Velma. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the two dogs watching him suspiciously. But even as Scooby was leaving, a familiar black shape bounded towards him from the entrance. It was his friend, Burch! _"Rurch?"_ Scooby asked, perplexed. _"Rhat you doing here?" _

_"You left your microchip thing on the kitchen table...I thought I'd better come when I heard it go off." _Burch growled in reply. Burch turned away from Scooby and gave a piercing stare to the Russian Wolfhounds. Nik and Vik, Scooby was delighted to see, looked a lot less confident now that the powerful Pitbull had arrived. _"Re need rat rope!"_ Scooby yelled, nodding his head towards the flowerbed. Burch nodded and slouched over to the flowerbed to get the rope. _"I broke a man's leg without even trying earlier today." _He told the Wolfhounds. _"So really think about whether you want to try and stop me. Bullying little Shih Tzu's." _he grated.

Nik shook his head and smiled. _"You might be happy to savagely mutilate us, Pitbull. That's your nature. But myself and my brother are not savages. Nor, I think, is Scooby. I'll strike a deal. We deal with this in a decent way, and the winner gets the "clue." Or else we will attack your Dane friend Scooby. You can get the rope or protect Scooby, Pitbull. You can't do both. So what will it be?"_

Burch turned to look at Scooby. Scooby shrugged. There was no real choice._ "Rhat you have in mind?"_ he asked. For reply, Nik smiled.

/

Meanwhile, on the first floor of the hotel, Velma and Rufus had just come face to face with the hideous Awthorn Monkey. Velma whispered urgently to Rufus. "When I say run...run." she muttered. Rufus shook his head. "I'm gunna wrestle it, Velmster! This guy is going down! When I've floored him, and have him in a choke hold, unmask him."

Velma gave a strangled sob. "No!" she hissed. "It could hurt you! It's nearly twice your size!"

"I know! I do love a gamble, bro!" Rufus exclaimed flinging his arms out into the air, embracing the Awthorn Monkey's forthcoming attack. The Monkey's hideous grin faded and turned into a snarl. There could be no doubt as to what was about to happen. With a gurgling roar, it charged down the corridor at Velma and Rufus. It moved slowly and clumsily. In order to see where it was going, it had to run backwards. Velma gave up. "Whatever happens now isn't my fault." she said, running away, leaving Rufus.

She had just turned the corner when she heard the sounds of struggle.

For a moment she dithered on the spot, wondering whether to leave Rufus to his "gamble" or go and risk her own safety...no. Rufus was her responsibility. She couldn't wait for that to end, but at the moment it hadn't. She turned and rushed back. Rufus was lying on the floor, unconscious. The Awthorn Monkey was nowhere to be seen. "Rufus?" she muttered, edging closer. "Talk to me, man...Rufus?"

"YES! Oh, yes! Who's the daddy!" Rufus screamed, leaping to his feet. "I'm the daddy, Velma! I'm the bigshot! I'm Donald Trump without the botox! Give me-"

"All right, all right!" Velma put her hands on his shoulders, trying to calm him down. "What happened?"

Rufus thrust a small object into Velma's hand. Velma stared at it. It was a note. "Room 4 two, thursday nite only" it read. Velma stared at it for a full minute. "Rufus..." she said.

"Vee D?" Rufus replied playfully.

"I can't quite understand how this has happened, but...I think you might have found a clue..." she said, reluctantly.

Rufus beamed. "What can I say. I'm awesome!" he grinned.

Velma shook her head, but smiled nonetheless. "Well, that was a really dangerous thing to do but...you've done something useful. I can't deny it."

But Rufus was no longer listening. "Woow! Look at the dogs!" he exclaimed, gazing out of the window.

Velma narrowed her eyes. "If this is another one of your hideous jokes, I'm warning you..." she threatened, shifting beside him to look out of the window. Her eyes fell on the four dogs outside. She did a double take. "What in the name of...?"

/

This was Nik's idea? Some sort of extreme style tug of war fight? Feeling immensely stupid, Scooby Doo and Burch slowly reared up to stand on their hind legs in a battle like stance and gripped the rope with their front legs. Nik and Vik did the same. They were standing on the other side of the flowerbed to Scooby and Burch. Vik giggled. "Три ... два ... один ... играть!" he announced. The fight commenced.

All four dogs were strong. The Russian Wolfhounds were more powerful than Burch had first assumed. Glaring, growling, grunting and snarling at the other dog duo, he and Scooby tugged at the vital rope with all their might.

Several minutes later muscles were still rippling and the two pairs of dogs now had mud from the flowerbed partly smeared over of their furry bodies. But nobody seemed closer to victory.

Each of the dogs had their bodies shaking like jelly, with their claws out on their mud covered foreleg and hind paws as they struggled for control by using nothing but their raw power and brute strength to try and better the other dog duo. But they kept slipping, and mud was being splashed all over the place. Scooby felt disgusted by what he was doing. Burch and the Wolfhounds seemed to revel in it.

_"Oi, Vik! You exist to do whatever your bro tells you, huh? Your mother must have been so upset that you turned out like this!" _Burch jeered, trying to distract him.

_"That's rubbish! My mother loved me just as much as Nikky!" _Vik barked, affronted.

"_Focus_!" Nik hissed at him.

The fight continued.

None of them had any idea how much time had gone by, but the dogs looked like they have been rolling in a filthy pig pen. All four were almost completely covered and smeared with mud as well as small smashed pieces of flowers that stuck to their furry bodies. The once beautiful flower garden was not only a combat zone for all four dogs, but it was now nothing more then one huge puddle of mud with lots and lots of paw prints in it. Scooby, Burch and Nik and Vik were starting to get exhausted, but they weren't going to stop. This was a duel. And somehow, Scooby knew that this rope meant something. Why else would Nik and Vik be going to all this trouble to protect it? Scooby had a lot of qualities, but intelligence and of course courage weren't in that list. He had no idea why the rope was important, but Velma may have already found some other clues. She would piece it together, because that was how they solved cases. She'd never let them down yet.

The rope snapped.

It came out of nowhere. All of the dogs had been so busy pulling, they hadn't taken notice of the way the rope was getting thinner and thinner, weaker and weaker in the middle. All four were launched backwards. Scooby was thrown onto the grass, and then Burch landed on top of him. Scooby wheezed in agony, and slid out from underneath his huge friend. Burch shook his head. _"Sod this." _he said, and with that, charged at the two Wolfhounds, barking insanely. Vik ran for the hills, as fast as he could. Nik stayed behind a second longer, before coming to the same, sensible judgement. _"Wait for me!" _he screamed.

Burch turned back to face Scooby. _"Well, that was interesting. Anyway, we have the rope...albeit in two parts."_

_"Ryeah...I go show Relma! Rhanks, Burch!"_

Burch nodded curtly, and turned to chase after the fleeing Wolfhounds. From their upstairs window, Velma and Rufus watched in amazement. Rufus turned to Velma. "And you criticize _me _for getting distracted!"

**Note: Sorry for the delay, I've had a busy schedule recently. Some credit also goes to Dark Fox Tailz for this chapter, he wrote the tug of war scene (that's the second fight he's done for me, he's the most helpful guy you could meet and he's great at writing action scenes.) But yeah, hope you all enjoyed it, and I'll try to make sure this delay isn't repeated.**


	6. Not Going Up

**Chapter 6**

"Shall we try the next floor up?" Daphne asked dragging herself along after Fred. In contrast to the experiences of Rufus and Velma, and Scooby in the gardens, their search for clues had amounted to complete boredom. On and on the rooms seemed to stretch. Fred was seriously beginning to wonder whether this whole thing might be one huge elaborate wind up.

"Yeah...let's rock it..." Fred heaved. They turned round and made their way back to the elevator.

"I hate to say it Fred, but your big Rufus gamble ain't paid off honey." Daphne said.

Fred sighed. "I'm glad I made it clear that we were only having him on a temporary basis. It was a _huge_ mistake, and as soon as we're done here, I'll be letting him go."

Daphne giggled. "Letting him go?"

"Yeah..."

"Very socially correct. Why not just say fired? Or sacked?"

Fred shook his head in playful disbelief, as he thumbed the elevator button, summoning it to their floor.

"Because, we are in America. Land of the free. I say as I want to say man."

They heard the grinding of worn cables, as the elevator creaked to their floor. "Doors opening." said the smooth, automated voice.

"You don't say." muttered Daphne, strolling into the elevator. Fred followed her, and hit the button for the next floor up.

The phone rang.

Sighing, Fred reached into his pocket and answered. "Any luck Velma?"

"Yes!" Fred perked up instantly. "We saw it!" exclaimed Velma.

"Awesome! How are you and your friend?" Fred momentarily took his mouth from the phone. "They saw it." he mouthed to Daphne.

"Well, Rufus tried to wrestle it. He failed. But, he has actually found us a clue. He got a bit hurt."

"Excellent! Right, well we've not ha-

And then, quite suddenly, Fred and Daphne heard it.

It was a high pitched laugh. Daphne froze, and huddle close next to Fred. The laugh was like nothing they'd ever heard. And the worst of it was, that the laugh was not coming from the intercom on the elevator, or another floor or anything like that. It was coming from above them.

"Velma..." Fred whispered. "There's something in the elevator shaft..."

"What is it?" She asked.

"I don't know! How should I know! I'm in the elevator! It's on top of us! The elevator roof is in the way!"

"Freddie, shut up!" Daphne snapped, grabbing the phone from him. "It's something laughing...listen can yo-"

The signal cut off.

"Hello? Hello? Damn it!" Velma heaved, snapping the phone shut. Something happened to them...they were in the elevator, and something was on top of the elevator...we got to go!"

"Don't worry Dinkster. They said that the laughing thingy was above the elevator right? All we gotta do is call it to the top floor, sister! Crush the damn thing to a pulp, dude! Let's do it!" Rufus merrily bounded off in the direction of the elevators.

"If you do that, I will personally see to it that you are not only tried, but convicted of murder." Velma spat. "Come on, let's go get Blaskov. Maybe the engineers might be able to get in there."

/

The elevator screeched to a halt. Early. And from the buzzing on the control panel, it was clear that it had broken down. Meanwhile, the hideous screeching laughter from above continued. "Daphne..." Fred whispered. "Next time I get scared, remind me of this..."

"Why?"

"Because then I'll be too scared to be scared of whatever we are facing."

Daphne scoffed "Go sit in the corner. I don't want you having one of your attacks." She knew that Fred didn't like enclosed spaces, but with any luck, the noise of above would provide a distraction from that.

"Why did I come here? Why? Why? First Rufus coming along and ruining everything, now this...it wasn't worth it Daph...big figures or not...it just weren't!" Fred was becoming hysterical.

"Freddie...please." Daphne soothed, trying to be heard above the noise above, which she noticed was becoming louder and louder by the second. "Calm it down. Just relax."

There was a bang from above them. Looking up, the two of them saw a small manhole on the roof. And whatever was above them...whatever was above, was trying to get in.

/

"There was something _in _the elevator room, Mr Blaskov." Velma exclaimed.

"Right...I see. 'Vell then, I get engineer to examine. But more to point...my flowerbed..." The hotel manager appeared angry.

"What of it?"

"Ruined. Ka-put. The dogs. 'Vhat did your leader tell me 'vhen I hire you? Discreet? Clean? 'Vell you fail on 'zat front, I must say."

Velma nodded understandingly. "I'm sorry sir. We'll gladly foot the bill to replace your flowers. But listen, if we get to the elevator shaft quickly, we might be able to catch this thing become it escapes."

Mr Blaskov sighed slowly and examined his fingernails, seemingly lost in deep thought. "'Zis country upsets me. Life a lot more simple at home." He shrugged to himself, and picked up his mobile phone. "Some'van open the lift shaft. 'Ve belief the monster to be there."

For the first time, Rufus piped up. "Mr. B" he said "What time does your restaurant close."

Mr Blaskov glared at him. "It close 'van hour ago, and at any rate, you 'vould not get in. 'Ve have dress code, you see? You do not fit those requirements."

Rufus just shrugged. "Posh snobs only, eh Blasky boy?"

"Anywaaaay" Velma said slowly "Let's not argue. Rufus, I want you to go to the garden and get Scooby, and Burch if he's around. Bring them in here, and with any luck we'll have this settled soon. I'm going to try Daphne and Fred again."

/

"W...who are you?" Daphne stuttered to the creature above. "We don't mean you any harm." But the creature wouldn't listen. Whatever was up there was hammering violently on the little hole in the roof, trying to break in. "Talk to me!"

"Please don't hurt us!" Fred yelled. To this the monster above laughed. Daphne smirked. The laugh was too human. By far. Solid proof that, like ninety-five percent of the cases, the "monster" wasn't a monster at all. Fred however, wasn't a bit relieved by this. Being in enclosed spaces was a huge fear of his, and having an unknown force trying to attack him didn't help. "We're going to die in here, Daphne!" Fred wailed.

"Oh Freddie...you're going to look back on this day and want to skip the country out of embarrassment."

"If we get out!"

There was a huge smash from above them, louder than ever before- the manhole hadn't opened, but it had been knocked out of shape...it might take minutes for the creature to get in. And then what? From experience, Daphne knew that these type of people rarely had the guts to kill. She could deal with getting kidnapped. Happened all the time. But how was this so called monster going to kidnap them whilst they were locked inside a stationary elevator? Time would tell, she thought grimly, watching the manhole.

/

"Scoobles?" sang Rufus as he patrolled the garden. "Scooby Doodles? Where you at, hound?" Scooby grunted in exasperation at Rufus's inability to just call him by his name, but nonetheless stalked over to him. "Rello" he growled. Rufus beamed at him. "We're getting this stuff sorted out, y'know Scoob? I gotta bring you in little guy." Suddenly Rufus gasped loudly, and froze still as a statue, staring at a beautiful flowerbed, adjacent to the one that Scooby and Co had destroyed. "Pansies! And Petunias! Oh Scoob, my luck is in my friend." Rufus laughed and strolled casually over to an unruined flowerbed, where he began picking off the biggest and nicest flowers he could find.

Scooby was not as clear on the rules of Mystery solving as the human members of the gang, but even he could spot a slight problem with Rufus stealing the hotel's beautifully cared for wildlife.

"Rurus..." he moaned slowly.

"My flowers have all failed this year!" Rufus said. "And there are far too many here. Nobody would mind If I just take a few, to liven up my little garden." Scooby just shook his head and turned away, waiting for Rufus. When Rufus has finished, Scooby saw that he had taken considerably more than a few flowers. About a quarter of the flowers were now in Rufus's hand, and he had picked the nicest ones he could find. "Can you notice the difference?" he asked Scooby. Scooby cast an eye to the flowerbed. The honest answer was yes, but he felt he'd be being a bit hypocritical to criticize Rufus of ruining a flowerbed after what he'd done earlier, so he just shrugged and gave a little bark.

"Well, not that I'm doing nothing wrong dude, but it might be better if Blaskov dosen't...yes..." he reached into a small pocket in his jacket and tried to stuff them all in there. "Perhaps not..." he muttered to himself, "Ah! Perfect." he exclaimed as he stuffed them into his trouser pockets, and covered them over with his jacket. "C'mon girl, let's go inside." Scooby wondered if that was a joke. He hoped so. He gazed, perplexed and somewhat revolted at Rufus and trotted back to the hotel, being sure to keep a couple of steps behind Rufus.

/

Meanwhile, Velma was desperately trying to get a signal to Daphne's cell phone. Finally, she succeeded in getting a faint, warped reply to her call.

"Yes?" came a small, distorted voice.

"Yeah, listen, what's the crack? Are you and Fred all right?" Velma said urgently

"Me yes, Fred, not really. I think we're going to have some company soon though. Best hurry up with the engineers!" said Daphne.

"All right, yes!" Velma assured Daphne. "We're going to get right on it!

Just then, Rufus and Scooby burst into Blaskov's office, with Scooby dripping mud all over the floor and corridor. Blaskov leapt to his feet and yelled something obscene in Russian.

"Rot a clue, Relma!"Scooby barked happily, showing her the rope he had managed to retrieve earlier.

"Hmm...so...a rope...and this note. This note is a reminder...reminding someone that a room is booked. Now who would carry that around?" Velma asked, more to herself than anyone. But nontheless, Rufus piped up.

"The manager!"

Blaskov swore at him, this time in English.

"I knew there was something odd about this guy!" Rufus went on "And by the way...you say your name is Blaskov! So why are you wearing a suit that belongs to Bob?" he exclaimed, pointing at the letters sewn into the breast pocket of Blaskov's blazer.

"Vose are my initials you ridiculous fool!" he spat. "Come. Let us go and rescue 've friends of your's."

They all left the office. "One more clue..." Velma muttered.

"You know who it is yet Vel?" Rufus asked.

"I've got ideas. One more clue is all I need."

"Is is Bob Blaskov?" Rufus asked. "He's got that mean, cruel look in his eyes."

"That's only when he looks at you." Velma replied. "And no,I don't think it's him. Furthermore it's not Bob Blaskov...it's initials...it me...oh forget it. Let's just go. If we catch this thing, I won't even need another clue."

**Note: Sorry for the delay, I had a minor case of total hard drive failure recently. To be honest I'm not hugely happy with this story, but I'm glad that it's getting read and reviewed positivley. Peace. **


	7. Laying the Trap

**Chapter 7**

Ten minuites lates, Velma, Rufus and Scooby stood outside the elevator door, on the very top floor of the hotel. The mechanics were trying to force the doors open safely, but judging by their incompetence, Blaskov had hired cheap rather than professional.

"I don't like these things, you know guys." Rufus said "I had an accident in one once, when the cable snapped."

Velma's eyes widened. "Were you all right afterwards?"

"Well, I thought I was." he replied "But once I took off my hat, I discovered that I had fractured my skull."

"Okay..." Velma said awkwardly "All better now though?"

"Oh yeah, takes more than that to finish the Rufster off." he announced proudly, patting himself on the chest. Unfortunately, this exposed the flowers, stuffed awkwardly into his pocket. Blaskov eyed them suspiciously. "'Vhere did you get 'vose?" he asked.

Rufus smoothed himself over as fast as he could, looking seriously guilty. "They're my lucky mascots, man!" he said. "I carry them everywhere, dude!"

"Lucky flo'vers." Blaskov repeated skeptically.

"Yeah...I take them places, and they give me luck an-"

"I am 'vell aware 'ov 'vhat lucky mascots are." Blaskov muttered. "I just hope 'vey 'vill pay off today, yes?"

Scooby shook his head incredulously, glaring at Rufus, who tried to smile at him, but gave up when he saw the look on Scoob's face. Cautiously, he pushed his stolen property a little further into his pocket.

"Oi! Grab 'old of the other door, innit 'Arry! I think we're gettin' in!" one of the engineers by the door said.

The second engineer rushed to the elevator door and heaved, mirroring his friend. Suddenly, they gave way and opened, revealing the dark, gloomy elevator shaft. However, the noise described by Daphne and Fred was gone. Cautiously, Velma approached the egde and looked down, but she could not see very far.

"Hmm...gone quiet, Dinkles..." Rufus said, pointing out the obvious. "I shall know more about it when I've been down there."

Velma spun round, alarmed. "Down there? Don't even think about it! The elevator might turn on! You could get crushed! Electrocuted! No way, Rufus."

"What's life without a little risk?" Rufus exclaimed. "Tell you what. If I come out alive, you owe me fifty dollars. If not, buy yourself a nice present with the money you would have owed me. Deal?"

Luckily, the engineer came to Velma's rescue. "She's right, it's outta the question, you ain't going in there. It's mite dangerous, buddy."

Quite what happened then, nobody was really sure about. One minute they had been squabbling with each other, and the next there was a tremendous bang and they were all thrown to the floor. All Velma heard was something climb out of the elevator shaft, and sprint away down the corridor.

"Jinkies...everyone all right? Scoob?"

"Ryeah."

"Rufus?"

"Check"

"Mr. Blaskov?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine."

You two engineer blokes?

"We're both all right, yep."

Velma straightened up. "What _was_ that?" she exclaimed.

"Hey!" Rufus said. "My shell!"

"I'm sorry?" Velma asked.

"My revolver shell! That bang...that was my gun! This monster has got my gun!" Rufus stammered. "I'm gunna drop that punk, dude! Which way did he go?"

"You aren't chasing an armed enemy." Velma replied wearily. "But that shell is my third and final clue. I know who it is."

"Who?"

"You'll see, Rufus. We need to lay a trap."

"Something Saw inspired?"

"Um...not quite...something a bit less gruesome." She turned to the engineers. "How long until you've got them out?" she asked.

"Yeah, gunna be 'bout thirty minutes. You may as well do the trap now, innit." The engineer replied.

"Okay..." Velma said, "No Fred, no Daphne, No Shaggy...what the hell. I'm in charge. Scooby Doo and Rufus. Let's get this done."

/

A short while later, everything was ready. Rufus would draw the Awthorn Monkey's attention, and make it chase him. When it did, he would lead it to the basement, where Velma and Scooby now sat, waiting. Then, they would pour grease, acquired from the kitchen, all over the floor just before the creature showed up. It was foolproof. Like the hundreds of other traps that had gone wrong over the years.

"Rufus?" Velma whispered through her phone.

"Yo, dude." he replied.

"How are you getting on?"

"Ehh."

"I'm sorry?"

"Not bad. No sign yet, but it shouldn't be long. I'm walking along, smashing myself against the wall at regular intervals. Should attract attention soon enough."

"Yeah...Blaskov asked us to be quiet, remember?"

"Ehh."

"Stop doing that!"

"Look, let's save the batteries, V. I'll call you when I'm being chased. Out." he hung up.

Velma sighed and spoke softly to Scooby. "I'm afraid that Rufus hasn't really made up for Shaggy not being here, has he Scoob?"

"Ro!" Scooby replied.

"Don't worry. After this, I promise you, Rufus will never come to a Mystery ever again. If Fred even suggests it, he'll be getting a mean kick."

"Ryeah."

"Anyway...we should be listening out for the warning. Let's get to the bottom of this once and for all."

Another five minutes passed uneventfully. Velma glanced miserably at her watch, knowing this could take all night, if at all. She just hoped that the bad guy wouldn't just shoot Rufus rather than chase him.

/

Rufus prowled around the hotel making as much noise as he could, hoping to attract the Awthorn Monkey's attention. He sighed and punched the wall again. A young, very short and rich looking man passed by him.  
"Don't do that." he said. "That wall leads to my room."

Rufus stopped in his tracks and turned to face the guy. "Hey, punk, I really don't have _time _for your big mouth, okay?" he said, gently shoving the man in the chest.

"Did you just touch me?" the man asked threateningly. "Do you know who my daddy is?"

"No, but don't worry, man. I don't know who my father is either! HA!"

The man glared at him. "He's a top class lawyer, and you'll have a notice in the post to be in court for that. Hippie ass bi-"

He never finished his sentence. Rufus kicked open the door to his bedroom with brute force, and lifted the small, over confident man clear off the floor and threw him into his room.

"Rude little boys get sent to their room! Byeeeee!" and ignoring the screaming protests of the shell shocked guest, he pressed on. Surely, surely the monster would turn up soon...

**Note: Nah, I got nothing new to say. **


	8. The Lobby of Doom

**Chapter 8**

"I'm bored..." Rufus said sadly to himself. "Come to Uncle Rufus, Mr. Monster!"

But more uneventful minutes passed in silence. Sighing, Rufus sat down on a windowsill and rested for a few moments. He shut his eyes and exhaled deeply. When Fred had said "Mystery Solving" he had imagined himself having a bit more fun than this. He wondered what Velma would say if he just walked out. He could go and get some beef jerky or something...

"Haffin' break?" a bitterly cold voice said in his ear. Rufus jumped a pile, and reached for his gun. Then he remembered his gun wasn't there. Blaskov smiled.

"Woah...where did you come from, dude?" Rufus drawled.

"I 'haff' just received complaint from very respected guest _._" The Russian manager replied.

"Oh?" Rufus tried to suppress his grin.

"It 'vould surprise you to know? You assault a guest. Do not deny it!"

"He provoked me, Big B!" Rufus protested.

"Is 'vat correct?" Blaskov replied menacingly. "Guess 'vhat? 'Vis man 'vas here to consider investment in my hotel. You haff' ruined 'vat."

"Hey, my homie, come on now! He was a piece of work, man! You don't want someone like that in business with you!" exclaimed Rufus. Blaskov started at him and chuckled humorlessly.

"People do not cross me in 've way you haff' done, sir." he said slowly. "Because if 'vey do...'vhey get 'vhat is coming to 'vem."

Rufus, although somewhat shocked by Blaskov's sudden appearance and behavior, stood his ground. "And people, such as yourself, do not threaten me in the way you just did. I kicked that little guy into touch and I'll do the same to you. I can turn nasty, Mr. B. Don't make me."

A soft growl punctured the argument. Blaskov's gaze slid behind Rufus, and Rufus saw his eyes widen in fear. Rufus nodded his head and smiled. "Monster?"

The Russian nodded. "Monster..." he gulped.

"Okay. Can you run?"

"I do hour exercise each day. Yes, I can run."

"Good...good" Rufus said. "Shall we do it?"

"Most certainly."

"Flee!" Rufus bellowed. Him and Blaskov charged away, down the corridor. The pounding of feet against the floor behind them told them that they were being chased.

/

"Hmm..." Velma said. "This really is boring, hey Scoob?"

Scooby had fallen asleep. Velma chucked and shook her head disbelievingly.

The basement door burst open. "Spring to action, good fellows" Rufus bellowed. Velma at once leapt up and tipped the tank of grease all over the floor just as Rufus passed.

What she hadn't counted on was Blaskov being there. Before she realized what she'd done, he had run straight into the trap. He slipped instantly and was sent headlong into a stack of breakfast cereal boxes.

The Awthorn Monkey itself had been a short distance behind Blaskov. It entered the basement just in time to watch Blaskov's fall. It backed away, laughing. A girlish laugh. Velma smiled. That just confirmed what she already knew. The hideous creature sneered at Velma, with it's face, so hideously stretched, perched on top of the twisted neck. But the trap had failed...

Blaskov feebly stirred and sat up. "Ohh...Если вы хотите, чтобы работа была выполнена, сделай это сам" he muttered to himself. With that, he reached into his blazer pocket and pulled out...Velma only had time to see a flash of grey before the deafening gunshot. He had shot the Awthorn Monkey in the leg. The monster whimpered and turned to leave the basement, but it was limping, on it's ruined leg. There was no chance it was getting away now.

"You had a gun this whole time?" Velma said incredulously as she helped Blaskov up and they all hurried to follow the injured villain.

"Ov' course. 'Vis monster was violent. You think I 'vould go around unprotected?"

They all tumbled out of the basement door. To find...the Awthorn Monkey, collapsed and clutching it's leg on the floor."

"So, who is this knucklehead, then V D?" Rufus asked.

"Hey! Nice one, guys!" came a voice. Fred and Daphne had appeared, having just been rescued from the elevator.

Fred walked over to the hurt creature and tugged at the head...

"What?" he yelled. It was the receptionist! The one he'd given Rufus's gun too when they arrived!

"Just as I thought!" Velma said. "It all made sense! The note Rufus managed to find...reminding her to book a room for someone...I knew it was a receptionist straight away once I saw that. Only a receptionist would have a note like that. As for the rope, this head, it's a complex piece to wear. This woman is too small too be able to control it convincingly. When Scooby showed me that I knew that it must be someone small, most likely a woman in the monster. That rope in the garden was a spare, I suppose? And of course, it was her herself who gave me my final clue. She shot Rufus's gun and he found the shell. And how had she got Rufus's gun? Because, Fred gave it to her!"

"Nadine?" Blaskov muttered, addressing the woman on the floor "Why?"

The woman snarled. "You. Rich. Bigshot. You know how much I get paid, you lot? Any idea? I slog my guts out working here, and this idiot who runs the place is nothing but dismissive! He pays me virtually nothing! He never appreciates my work! I'd had enough! I set about ruining his hotel because he's a sexist, he doesn't care, he treats the staff like scum...well nobody else was brave enough to stand up to him, so I did it."

"Rik and Rik?" Scooby asked. Everyone stared blankly at him, but Nadine grudgingly answered.

"Nik and Vik? My dogs. I made them keep a lookout when I heard you lot were coming."

"You're fired." Blaskov said weakly. Nadine burst out laughing. "Guess what? I ain't going to jail! Now get on the floor, the lot of you!" with that, she leapt up off the floor, tore through her costume, into her jacket pocket and pulled out Rufus's revolver. And it was loaded. As one, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Scooby and Blaskov crashed to the floor. "Give me your damn gun, Blaskov." she warned. Blackov swore in Russian and tossed it aside.

Rufus, however, did not go to the floor. Smilingly in a dazed sort of way, he walked up to Nadine and stood face to face with her. "Give me the gun, sweetie." he said, smiling at her.

Fred was aghast. "Rufus, back down, dude! Get down here!" Nadine, for her part, looked equally shocked at Rufus's behavior.

"I will _drop _you unless you get down there!" she screamed, pointing the gun at Rufus's heart.

"Oh, you're going to kill me, now you'll spend even longer in prison. Okay, go ahead." Rufus said calmly.

"_Rufus_!" Daphne and Velma screamed in unison

Nadine scoffed. "Huh. You're going to die for the sake of this?" Rufus chuckled and edged closer towards her. Nadine panicked and jumped back, keeping the gun steady.

"Back up, I don't want to do this, but I w-"

That was all she got in. Quick as lightning, Rufus was on top of her. The five on the floor watched in awe and horror as he prised the gun gently from her grip, unloaded the chamber and hauled her to her feet, keeping her securely in an arm lock as he did so.

"Boom chicka!" he yelled proudly. Fred was as pale as a ghost himself. "That was beyond dangerous, Rufus. What are you playing at?"

"Solving the mystery, dude. Man, you'd have let this chick get away if it weren't for me."

/

Five minutes later, they were in the lobby. Nadine was tied up in the basement, waiting for the police. Fred was talking to Rufus.

"Rufus, man, you're work for us is done. You know that, right?" he informed Rufus. He was worried that Rufus might not take it well, but it was easier than expected.

"Like, you're making a major mistake, man. I saved ass today."

Fred shook his head. "There's a difference between protecting us and being reckless. There's a difference between searching for clues and assaulting people. And let's face it, if you had never brought the gun, she'd never have gotten hold of it, and we would have captured her."

"That's some deep logic, homie."

"Look, you'll be paid for this, sure you will, but you can't come again, I'm sorry." he held out an awkward hand which Rufus briefly considered, but took.

Daphne and Velma were slouched against the reception desk with Scooby, silently listening to Fred's conversation. Just then, Blaskov appeared, and walked over to Fred with a stack of notes.

"Booty!" Rufus exclaimed. Blaskov glared at him.

"Yes...here is pay. Ho'vever...you 'haff caused great disruption tonight. Deductions must be made. You scare two 'ov my guests a'vay. You needed me to spend money to rescue you from lift. He 'vos causing racket and distraction." he nodded in Rufus's direction. "Also..." he shot his hand into Rufus's pocket and pulled out a huge clump of squashed and limp flowers. "Stealing, damage to garden...shall 've settle on ten thousand?"

Fred didn't like that at all, and he couldn't quite work out how all of what had gone wrong warranted deducting five thousand dollars. He turned to Velma and Daphne. Velma just shrugged and Daphne, although looking sulky muttered that she didn't mind. Rufus cracked a wide grin. "you're call, Freddy J." he exclaimed, throwing his arms out to the side, knocking over a beautiful vase of flowers that were perched on the reception desk behind him. Fred grimaced as it rolled from the desk and smashed on the floor.

Blaskov shrugged. "Nine thousand, five hundred it is then. Oh, and I suppose 've fact you brought 'vis man in 've first place knocks off another two dollars. But, he did catch Nadine...so I put 'van of those dollars back on. Deal?"

Just then, there was a great deal of loud noise coming from outside. Horrific noises of barking, growling, snarling, grunting and roaring. Three huge, muddy shapes came charging into the lobby by crashing through the glass doors, seemingly determined to kill each other. The guests and staff who were in the lobby screamed and jumped out of the way. Scooby saw one woman throw herself straight into a computer screen, which sparked and died instantly. But as the shapes drew closer, Scooby saw who it was. It was Burch, Nik and Vik. All three dogs were standing and moving around on their hind legs, they also had their claws out on both their muddy foreleg and hind paws.

"Ro!" screamed Scooby, running into the fight. He quickly reared up onto his back legs and pinned down Nik on a now partly ripped and mud covered sofa, whilst Burch grabbed Vik around the throat with one of his front paws and pushed Vik up against a huge torn picture that hung on the wall. The fighting mud covered dogs glared, scratched, clawed and bit at each other, causing mayhem and throwing as well as dripping mud all over the nice clean lobby as they fought on their hind legs in a wild and savage like way.

There was a deafening bang which made everyone jump out of their skin. Rufus had fired a bullet at the roof to stop the fight. Indeed, the dogs, stunned by the noise, stopped instantly.

"Tell them to go down the basement with the woman, Scooby." Rufus instructed, brandishing his gun. Scooby did just this, and Fred locked the door firmly behind them.

The lobby had been wrecked. In that short space of time, the four large, muddy dogs had caused broken computers, smears and stains all over the walls and floor, torn carpets and a rather unpleasant smell of manure. Blaskov stood where he was, his eyes popping in fury.

There was a creak from above. And then all hell broke loose.

Rufus had shot his pistol into the air to break up the fight. What he didn't realize was that the bullet had actually hit the very base of a huge, golden chandelier light, breaking the huge structure away from the ceiling. The actual wire hadn't been damaged, so the light was still on. But the gigantic light was now hanging by a wire, dangling from the ceiling. And then the wire snapped. The huge, expensive, heavy light came crashing right down into the lobby. Everyone got clear in time, but Blaskov received a burning piece of light bulb glass straight to the cheek. He screamed and swore using the foulest English he knew. Fragments of glass went everywhere. The twisted wires that shaped the chandelier were thrown across the room. By the time everyone came out from their cover, the whole lobby was a mess of shattered glass, mud, broken machinery and ripped wallpaper.

"Hmm..." Rufus said thoughtfully, observing the carnage. "That was a misfortune of sorts."

Blaskov straightened up, clutching the minor bleed to his right cheek. "I call you here. Quiet. Efficient. Clean.. 'Vat is what you told me."

Fred glanced helplessly at his friends. "Mr. Blaskov..."

"I 'vant you out. Now. No money. 'Vat money can be used to repair my hotel. Go."

"Please, sir..."

"Now! Get out 'ov here!" Blaskov was beside himself with rage. He screamed in Fred's face, who jumped a mile and turned to leave at once.

"Out! You!" he barked at Scooby, who ran back. "Out! You! Now!"

So that was how it ended. Sore, tired, unpaid and dirty, Fred, Daphne, Velma, Scooby and Burch sat glumly in the Mystery Machine as Fred drove them home. Rufus wasn't with them. He'd tried to get in with Scooby, but the Dane saw to it that he didn't. They didn't know where Rufus was now, and to be honest none of them cared.

"Let's go see Shaggy." Fred said.

"Yeah." Daphne piped up. "I've missed him.

"Let's do it." Velma agreed.

"Ryeah!"

**Note: Yeah, so that's the end. Not too happy with this story to be honest, it seemed a much better idea at the time I started writing it. But them's the breaks and I hope you lot got some enjoyment out of reading it. If ye liked it hit the Fave Button. If you have any criticism or praise, leave a review. Cheerz.**


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